


Sorry For Being Sick

by HailForTheQueen



Series: Why Does Nobody Want Me? [1]
Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Fever, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Mental Health Issues, Parent Cameron Campbell, Past Abuse, Protective Cameron Campbell (Camp Camp), Protective Max (Camp Camp), Sick Character, Sick David (Camp Camp), Sickfic, dadvid, david being a soft boi, shitty parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-03-09 04:59:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18910054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HailForTheQueen/pseuds/HailForTheQueen
Summary: Dealing with illness is a complicated thing for David, who's still fearful of the punishments he faced as a consequence of showing signs of sickness around his parents when he was younger. When Max takes out his own stress on the counsellor who's already not feeling himself, David breaks down and asks for the one person who's always helped him feel better.





	1. Don't Be Mad

**Author's Note:**

> Hellloooo, I'm always excited when I start writing for a new fandom! This work is part of a series with the headcanon that Cameron Campbell fostered/adopted David when he was younger since he had abusive parents. I'm writing the main story, but this is just a little separate two-shot! Enjoy~ (◠﹏◠✿)

It starts with Max waking up from a nightmare.

It's not common, especially not at camp, but it's happened enough that he can already tell today will be a shitty day. Usually he ignores the heavy feeling following him around, finds something or someone to distract himself with, but the fiasco that was Parent's Day had already been looming over him before the nightmare shit and nothing seems to be working.

The feeling builds and builds until dinner time, when he walks into the Mess Hall with an abundance of nervous energy and nowhere to release it.

Until he stops a worn down David sitting at a table in the corner. All day Max had been going further than usual with his taunts and insults, and the lack of reaction had just made the feeling inside him worse.

But seeing that it had gotten to him to an extent relieves some of that feeling, gives him almost a thrill in a way he can't explain. Neither can he explain what possessed him to saunter over to the counsellor's table and sit in front of him, not yelling, but mocking and ridiculing him with as much venom as he could muster.

He continues even when he's met with tired, empty green eyes, and a tight frown. If anything, it makes him angrier because the world isn't just fucking rainbows and daisies, and you're fucking pathetic for thinking it is, and you've never been through anything real. It triggers something in Max, and suddenly he needs David to know what it means to feel sad and alone in this shitty world, just like everybody else has felt.

He doesn't remember what he said, but he knows he's going too far. He knows it's his natural reaction to his nightmare from last night and the heat and his friends prying all day and just David acting so unlike himself in that moment, yet it nevertheless surprises him when he hears David whimper instead of laughing it off.

His face is now completely flushed red, so much so that it's still worryingly obvious even as the redhead presses the heel of his palms into his eyes.

The crying begins softly enough, tears tracking around his hands and dripping down his chin. And Max is still trying to pretend he doesn't care, even as all of the other 9 campers have turned to look at the commotion, even as David remains unresponsive to Nikki asking if he's okay and Neil asking if he should get Gwen.

It's when he starts taking deep, gasping breaths that they realise it's going too far.

David begins whimpering as he attempts to repress his gasps, but the panic has already settled in his chest, running rampant. He feels himself getting lightheaded, keening high in his throat when he realises he can't fucking breathe because he let himself get sick and cry and now they're going to be mad and hurt him.

After that, the sobs bubble out of him and he doesn't have the energy to stop. He shrinks into himself the way he used to when he was younger and feels the same wave of hopelessness wash over him and pull him under, twisting up his ankles and tightening its grip that never completely let go.

"Gwen!" Nikki shouts as she runs into the kitchen where the second camper is sipping coffee.

Max doesn't hear what's said over David's hyperventilating, but it's not a second later that Gwen is running out towards them.

"What the fuck happened?" She all but yells, hands hovering about David as she tries to decide what to do. She's shaken to her core, never expecting someone as cheerful as David to break down in such a way.

"I don't know!" Max yells back, his face conveying the worry his body language refuses to. "I said the usual shit and this time he started crying!"

"Okay," she breathes out, sitting next to David on the bench.

He's wheezing as he tries to pull in a breath of air through the tears. "I want Cameron" He sobs, repeating it as he folds forward on the table, burying his head in his arms.

"What do you mean? You want Mr Campbell?" She questions, bringing her hand down to gently rest on David's back. Only for him to screech and flinch away from her touch, launching himself on the floor. He looks up at her with his big, green eyes filled with tears, shaking and sobbing his head.

"Please don't," He gasps out. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to get sick!" He screams, backing away from her with a fear in his eyes that makes both her and Max shudder. His breaths are rattling in and out of his chest, trembling hand coming up to claw at his throat. He folds over himself to hide away from their gaze. "I want Cameron," He wails, his clawing creeping up his neck and face, attempting to scratch away his flushed cheeks and deny the sickness.

"Holy shit... KIDS," She says, turning to face the confused campers, "All of you to the campsite with Quartermaster. NOW." She adds when they stare at her without moving.

With that they're all filing out of the room, looking back at David as the older man ushers them out.

"I'm staying," Max says, eyes never leaving David's shaking body. He's still staring closed in on himself, hands doing damage without either Max nor Gwen realising.

Gwen reaches a hand up to run through her hair and the action is enough to startle David, causing him to press himself up against the side of the wall, hugging his trembling arms around his heaving chest. He rests his chin on his knees so Max can see that his eyes are scrunched closed again, trying desperately to focus his thoughts away from his traumatic childhood memories.

Despite it all, scenes of throwing up in his bathroom and being subsequently beaten by both his mother and father flicker around his consciousness. He cries out softly, tugging lightly at strands of his hair to will the sickness out of his system, anything to avoid people's anger.

Gwen stares at him feeling more lost than she has all summer. "Okay, shit" she mutters under her breath.

"If he wants fucking Cameron Campbell of all people, I'll get him Campbell..." She turns to look at Max, though he cuts her off before she can say anything more.

"I'll stay with the idiot,"

And with that, Gwen leaves to make the call. Max stays quiet for a moment, listening to the faint conversation through the door.

"I don't know, he's sick and crying and he says he wants you, so..."

Maybe it's the fact that it's now only the two of them, or maybe the heart wrenching behaviour just becomes too overwhelming in the new silence, but Max slowly walks closer.

Upon walking closer, he sees the red streaks lining the length of David's throat, sharp and irritated and invading the delicate skin of his cheeks. Holy shit... He thinks to himself, nervously biting at his lower lip after inspecting the damage the counsellor had done to himself. He wants to reach out and do something even if he doesn't know what. But he saw him flinch when all Gwen did was put a hand to her own hair. He knows the signs of someone who has been hurt terribly, and decides to keep a meter between the two of them.

David's eyelids flutter open, revealing wide eyes, glazed over and terrified. His sob hiccups and the breath catches in his throat as he stares at the 10 year old, before he lets out a low groan and attempts to push himself further back into the wall.

"It's okay, David..." Max mutters, backing up slightly. "I'm not gonna fucking... T-touch or hurt you or anything like that, 'kay..?" He tries for reassuring, though he's not fooling himself nor David.

 

* * *

 

 

Max has never felt relief like when Campbell walks into the room not 10 minutes later, and he sees the way the tension drains from David's shoulders. He looks up from where he's buried his head in his arms on top of his knees, face flushed red with fever and scratches, and whines when he sees the man approaching him.

Campbell kneels down in front of him and gathers the smaller male in his arms, gently running circles into the redhead's back as he buried his face in the older man's chest.

"It's okay, Davey..." He mumbles into the mess of red hair, scooping him up into a proper hold as he stands, arms tucked under David's knees and back.

The smaller man has completely curled himself up in the hold, only his legs, clothes and tuffs of hair visible from how tightly he's tucked himself to Campbell's chest.

Max stands from where he'd been crouching near David, his fists clenching and relaxing at how small and vulnerable the redhead seems, especially when held by Campbell's massive frame.

"Fucking put him down!" Max yells, and it pains him when he can feel how violently David flinches just by the sharp jerk of his trembling body. The way he calms back down when Cameron rubs at his back only fuels Max' sudden onslaught of anger. "Why the fuck did you even come here?" he hisses, keeping his volume low. "You only show up to cause trouble for everyone here, why are you acting like you give a shit about him?"

"Why are you?" Campbell responds, quirking a thick grey eyebrow at the camper. When he's not graced with a reply, he continues. "I've been Davey's legal guardian since he was 14, kid. I'm acting like I give hooey because Davey's the only one I've ever given a hooey about,"

He smiles uncharacteristically softly down at the redhead curled up in his arms, taking deep breaths the way he's always showed him how. "Gina, I'm taking Davey here with me to where I'm staying around here," he says, looking down at the shaking body in his hands and pressing a kiss into his bright hair.

"And where would that be sir..?" She asks, bewildered by the flurry of new information.

"It's just a little cabin around here," He says quickly, walking towards the door to the Mess Hall. "I'll send someone in the morning to help with camp until Davey's better." And with that he was off.

Although is wasn't until he'd stopped outside of the car that he realises Max had been silently following along.

"What are you doing kid?" He asks, looking down as the boy stuffs his hands in his pockets.

"I'm coming too, Gwen said I could if I didn't act like a little shit, so..."

Campbell sighs, not willing to fight about the matter with the child while he still had a frightened David in his arms. "Okay," he agrees. David did always say he liked the camper.

He opens the door and places David in the back next to Max who had just hopped into the right side. "Keep an eye on him," he says. As he pulls away, he feels the weak grip David refuses to relinquish on his shirt. "Davey sweetheart, I need to get in to drive the car," he says softly, laying his larger hands on top of the redheads and trying to gently pull them away.

It's enough to set him off.

Immediately he starts sobbing again, curling into the seat and squeezing his eyes shut. Max can see him getting even redder in the face as he lets out heartbreaking cries. "I'm sorry I let myself get sick again," he whines, letting go of Campbell in favour of pulling at his hair. The older man gingerly pulls his hands down. He takes a moment to look at the way David has scratched the skin on his neck and cheeks raw, beads of blood having swelled and dried on his neck and dyed splotches of his ascot. He reaches behind the headrest to grab a hoodie David had borrowed from him and left in the car at the beginning of the year when the weather was just moving past Winter's last chills. "Remember what we said about this, Davey. Sickness isn't something to blame someone for, and I'll always be here to look after you okay? Please put the jumper on,"

David just shakes his head and buries his face in the soft material.

"Then make sure to hold it with two hands then?" Campbell asks, eyeing the dried blood under the counsellor's fingernails.

"I'll make sure he does," Max speaks up after having watched the exchange between the two, and the concern in the older man's eyes. He gets the idea. Two hands on the hoodie means no hands to hurt himself.

The 10 minute drive goes relatively smooth after that, David curled into his seat drifting asleep with both hands buried in the warmth of Campbell's jacket, Max's sharp gaze constantly watching him.

When the car finally stops, it's in front of a modest wooden cabin in a clearing of the woods, looking similar enough to the Mess Hall. Cameron gets out to open the door for David, once again lifting the sleeping figure into his arms and walking towards the door, with Max close behind. The trio wordlessly enter the house, Campbell switching a light switch to reveal the modern interior.

The kitchen runs along the left side with sleek white counters and a kitchen isle taking up most of the space, leaving jut enough for a dining table and four chairs. The right side is an open living room space, complete with sofas, a fireplace and TV. Campbell doesn't pause and allow Max to admire, instead heading straight down to a door that opens into a hallway, with two doors on each side, and one at the very back straight down.

The older man walks into the first door on the left, revealing an equally modern bedroom.

"I'm going to change him into some pyjamas, give him some medicine and let him rest," Campbell says, laying David's stirring figure onto the bed.

"Go entertain yourself in the living room for a few minutes," With that he moves to usher the young camper out of the door, leaving him wondering what the fuck happened today to lead him to this point.


	2. Get Well Soon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glad to have finished this little two-shot! I hope you enjoy it and look forward to my next installment in the series! (◠︿◠✿)

 

 

The first thing David sees when he wakes is the bright artificial lights shining down upon him, a stark contrast to the dark nothingness he was getting acquainted with in his sleep. The white light only illuminates his sickly pallor, a mess of warm, flushed skin and dark circles under his dull green eyes. His breath hitches at the feeling of strong hands wrapped around his forearms, hauling him up into a sitting position, a whimper escaping his lips as brief flashes of painful childhood memories flicker through his psyche.

"It's okay, Davey," Campbell says upon noticing the redhead's distress. "We're just changing into some pyjamas."

So far David hadn't looked at Cameron. Only the ceiling, blinking rapidly in an attempt to hold back his oncoming tears. Somewhere between his minor breakdown at camp, his brief nap in the car, and waking up in Campbell's arms, he'd come to realise how stupid he had been. Nobody was going to hurt him. He'd been working all day with a fever and headache, and his anxiety had only elevated its effect on him until he'd snapped under the crippling truth of Max's taunts. It's a long road from being abused to having recovered, a road that seems all to familiar to the redhead, as if he'd never truly moved in the direction of progress.

He jerks from Campbell's arms as he tries to stifle a sob. "Why am I so fucking broken?" He spits out between heaving breaths. It's a feeling wildly different from an anxiety or panic attack, that much is obvious through the lack hyperventilation, or even a pounding heart. Instead, it feels sluggish pumping the blood around his body. He feels sluggish. Sad. Tired.

He feels like giving up.

He sits on the edge of the bed, leaning his elbows on his knees as he grinds the palm of his hands into his eyes.

"I feel so hopeless sometimes," he says quietly, unmoving even as Campbell walks around the bed to sit beside him and wrap an arm around his shoulders.

"I know, Davey." He replies after some time. "But you've come so far over the years, haven't you? I couldn't be prouder." He allows a silence to open up.

At last David says, "I knew this was never going to be easy," He pauses to settle his hands in his lap, his fingers doing complicated things as he thinks back to his childhood.

"But I never thought it would be so hard. I thought I'd already gotten through the hard stuff: the beatings; being yelled at to shut up whenever I cried; being completely isolated and deprived of every basic thing a child should have in abundance..." He begins pulling at some loose thread on the sleeve of the oversized hoodie. Campbell turns his head to watch him.

"So why do I have to keep suffering over and over and over again? Can't what they did be enough?" He says, his voice trailing off into a whimper. His tone is so heartbreakingly small and innocent and hurt and desperate that it's making something in the older man ache again.

For a while, Cameron just rubs soothing circles into the softness of David's right arm before slowly speaking up, deliberate in his words. "You've always been a brave kid, Davey. I know you've had it hard since you were a child, but I promised you that you'd never have to feel alone again, and I've kept that promise all these years, haven't I?"

He pauses until he feels David lean into his chest and nod, smiling softly down at the mess of red hair.

"Good," Campbell continues. "That's a lifelong promise, okay? You've been doing so well recently and I can't stress how proud I am of you, but it's natural to have relapses, especially when something triggering happens. In your case it was getting sick. It's okay, just remember that I will always be here for you, and a relapse doesn't take anything away from all of the wonderful progress you've made."

He decides to leave his little speech there when David begins sobbing again.

Instead of crying from hopelessness, it's a cry of relief. Because suddenly he doesn't feel like he's been stuck on the same spot of a lonely road for the past ten years, he feels like he's been walking and crawling and running only to have tripped. But there's someone by his side in an instance, reaching out a hand and helping him up. And he knows, he just knows that he'll be up and running in no time.

"How about we change you into those pyjamas I was talking about?" Campbell says after a few minutes of soothing David in his arms.

The redhead nods, exhausted and ready to collapse into a hopefully dreamless sleep, closing his eyes as Campbell changes him.

He allows the older man to gingerly pull of his jumper and then shirt, before slipping a soft tee over his head. He doesn't even make a noise as Cameron pulls off his shoes, socks or shorts. The only point he opens his eyes is when the man gets up without giving him a pair of pyjama pants or shorts.

"Sorry Davey, you took all your pyjamas with you to camp so I just gave you one of my shirts," he says, walking to the en-suite bathroom to rummage through the cupboards for some medicine. The redhead looks down only then realising that the shirt is indeed Campbell's being more than a few sizes too large for him. He smiles. It reminds him of the first day of living with the man. He'd arrived with no clothes or other worldly possessions to speak of but the ones on his back and slept in a pair of Campbell's pyjamas that night, held onto his body with a creative assortment of bands.

"Oh," Campbell starts, walking from the bathroom and grabbing a bottle of water as he walks back to David. "One of the little hooligans from camp tagged along here."

He pops two pills out of a little silver packet, gently pressing them into David's soft hand. He then uncaps the water bottle and presses it into his other.

David throws back the pills and takes a few gulps before turning back to the older man. "Which one?" He asks, already harbouring a growing idea.

"Uh... Mason?"

"Max?"

"Sure," Campbell says.

David fidgets for a moment, running a slightly shaky hand through his tousled hair as he thinks back to the young campers earlier hurtful taunts.

"You don't have to see him right now if you don't want," Campbell says softly. "I can get him settled in the other bedroom and take the couch. You guys can talk in the morning if that's better," He suggests, moving to sit back down beside David on the bed. He pulls the man back into his chest, wrapping an arm around his back and shoulders to comfort him. It's his protective streak, he thinks. It's only really been extended out to David, a warm embrace of safety that he'd never relinquish.

"No... No, it would be best to clear things up from now," David levels.

They sit in a comfortable silence for a moment longer, before Cameron hauls himself up and offers his hand to the younger man.

David smiles lightly as he takes it and is pulled to his feet. The pair walk together out of the room, Campbell having shed his vest and undone the first few buttons of his shirt from summer heat, proving particularly persistent throughout the night this year. David himself wears nothing but his briefs and one of Campbell's white tees, falling to just above his knees. If it were any higher, if it were to ride up past the length of were his cargo shorts usually fall, one might be able to catch a glimpse of the raised, pale scars decorating the expanse of his upper thighs.

Though that is not the case.

As he walks and is jostled by both his own and Cameron's movement, the shirt manages to slip slightly off of his small frame, exposing the smooth, pale skin of his shoulder. He's glad for it, the loose clothing allowing him to cool down from the uncomfortable flush of his fever.

Max doesn't like it. As soon as he sees the counsellor walk into the living room drowning in the swathe of clothes, he's reminded of the same protective anger that had been coursing through his veins earlier. It makes David look too small. Too vulnerable. Maybe it's seeing him beside Campbell that causes pushes him into action and causes him to step forward. "Oi, Campman," He says, frowning slightly as he looks up at the man. "I'm sorry for earlier, okay? I was wound up and I took it out on you for no reason and ended up going to far."

He pointedly looks at the ground as he speaks out for the final time in a softer tone. "I'm sorry..."

"Ohh Max!" David exclaims, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. Max isn't one for apologies and it means a lot that he'd give David one unprompted. "It's okay, I just have a fever so I was already a bit loopy, it's fine!" he assures smiling at the boy.

"Wellll, now that that's all started," Campbell says, clapping his hands together. "How about we get some shut eye?" He suggests.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," David says still smiling. He's ready for some sleep, his head begging to spin once again and hot flushes disrupting his system.

"I'll stay with David," Max announces leaving no room for argument, instead ushering the redhead to the room he'd just walked out of.

David is too tired to even think about protesting. As soon as he sees the inviting comfort of the bed, he dives onto it curling up on top of the light sheets. It's as he's trying to fall into a dreamless sleep that Campbell walks in to the side of the bed occupied by David. Max eyes him warily from where he's perched on the right side of the bed, mindlessly playing a game on David's phone.

"Goodnight Davey," Campbell says gently, leaning down to place an affectionate kiss on the redhead's forward.

"G'night dad..." David replies sleepily, already slipping off into a tranquil rest.

Campbell laughs quietly, placing another quick kiss on his flushed forehead before rising to leave the two to rest.

"Night kid," He says quietly to Max, already walking out the door.

"Yeah whatever..."

He pauses just as he's about to shut the door. "Come get me if anything happens." He adds, pulling the handle down to muffle the sound of the door closing.

Max huffs as he leans back against the headboard, turning to look down at the peaceful form of David.

"Get well soon..." He mumbles, placing the phone down and turning onto his side to face David. Minutes later, everyone in the homely little cabin is dead to the world until David wakes them up the following morning, already asking when they will return to camp.


End file.
